Murrieta Valley’s Sammon claims individual title at Poly Classic

Sammon prevailed on the first hole of a three-way playoff, while King walked away with the team championship Monday at Victoria Club.

Murrieta Valley’s Maddie Sammon won the Poly Classic individual title in a sudden-death playoff on Monday. PHOTOS BY MILKA SOKO, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

King’s Emilyn Czaplicki didn’t win the playoff Monday but did help the Wolves claim the team title.

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By Derryl Trujillo

Correspondent

RIVERSIDE >> There was a youth movement across the Inland area girls golf scene last season, as three freshmen won league championships: Murrieta Valley’s Maddie Sammon, Liberty’s Zihong Sun and King’s Emilyn Czaplicki.

Monday afternoon at the Poly Classic hosted by Riverside’s Victoria Club, the trio met in a sudden-death playoff for an individual championship. And after one hole, it was Sammon, the younger sister of back-to-back Southwestern League champion Lauren Sammon, prevailing after making a bogey.

King, the defending Big VIII League champion, won the team title Monday after shooting a 432 (+67). Sarani Yapa added a 79, while Sophia Llamas shot 82 to put three Wolves under 85 for coach Keith Moorman’s side.

Sammon stuck a wedge from 80 yards to tap-in distance at the par-4 first hole to reach 1-under after three holes.

After getting up and down from right of the green on No. 6 for birdie, Sammon stuck another wedge to six feet on No. 7 but lipped out the birdie putt. Another lip-out for par on the eighth hole knocked her back to even par. However, an eagle at the short par-5 15th put her back at -2 before bogeying the par-3 16th (her final hole in the shotgun start) to post 72.

“I think playing three competitive rounds on this course over the summer between a SCPGA Junior Tour Toyota Tour Cup event and a U.S. Girls Junior Amateur qualifier really helped me today,” said Sammon, last year’s Southwestern League champion. “The set-ups were completely different but gave me an idea of how to attack this course along with having played here last year.”

Sun, last year’s Mountain Pass League champion, caught fire late in her round, making three straight birdies from No. 5 to No. 7 to reach 1-under-par. She holed a six-foot birdie putt from the fringe at the fifth, got up and down from just off the green at the sixth and made a 10-foot birdie putt at the seventh for her birdies.

Then she got up and down from a greenside bunker at her final hole, the par-4 10th, to post 72.

Czaplicki, last year’s Big VIII League champion, started off the first hole and made bogey after hitting her tee shot into a penalty area. She made two other bogeys and a lone birdie at the downhill, par-4 seventh hole to go out in 38 (+2).

Victoria Club’s back nine features four par 5s and two par 3s in the final six holes, and Czaplicki made her move. After a bogey at No. 10, she made three straight birdies on 13, 14 and 15 along with another birdie at 17 to join the playoff

Sun hit her tee shot right down the middle after a lengthy wait, while Sammon and Czaplicki both missed the fairway right. Sammon and Sun both missed the green long while Czaplicki was short on her approach. After hitting her severely downhill pitch shot to 20 feet, Sammon nearly made par before tapping in for bogey. She then waited as Czaplicki and Sun each missed short putts that would have extended the playoff.

“Watching my fellow competitors putt after I made bogey was so nerve-wracking, even though I knew the most they could do was extend the playoff,” Sammon said. “It was a good start to the season.”

Other notable scores for Inland golfers: Ellie Kim (Beaumont) 75, Maleah Clark (Beaumont) 77, Victoria Richani (Centennial) 80, Arianna Soto (Riverside Poly) 82, Ashley Baybay (Chino Hills) 85, and Trinity Wheelock (Elsinore) 86.